The Determining Factor

Who is the most important person in a baseball game?

Pitcher? Batter? Short-stop? Third base coach?

If you ask parents at a T-ball game, the answer obviously is going to be their child. If you ask a college scout, it’s the talented player he has come to watch. If you ask the coach it might be the strongest batter or fastest pitcher. And while all those have a measure of truth, in the end, there’s one person who is most important. They’re usually dressed in blue and gray, and they have the best spot to watch the action–directly behind home plate.

You see, the most important person in a baseball game is the Umpire. Their call, while often challenged, is final. They are the determining factor between a ball and a strike, between a runner being safe or out, between foul and good.

The word translated as “rule” more completely means “to act as umpire” or “to arbitrate.” So how does that work?

The Good News Translation puts it like this: The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body.

When we are facing choices or making tough decisions and one of the options leaves us with an unsettled feeling and the other has a peaceful feeling about it, choose peace. The peace that Christ gives should guide us.